Hometown: Capital city Jinan of Shandong Province, Eastern China
Advisor: Ming Li, Horn Point Laboratory
What are you researching? I am studying physical oceanography. My research mainly focuses on the impact of physical process on the biogeochemical cycling in estuarine areas. I use and improve a coupled numerical model to simulate how climate change (in wind, storm, river discharge, nutrient input) influences the estuarine water quality.
Why does it makes a difference? Climate change is a non-ignorable and significant fact closely bound with our daily lives. It is not only about getting warmer, but also causes complicated environmental change within the whole earth system. The subsistence of estuarine ecosystem rests upon the water quality environment, which is able to provide abundant seafood resources. Thus, using coupled numerical model to quantify the water quality variation with response to the changing climate is helpful for the evaluation and management of estuarine ecosystem.
Why choose the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science? UMCES is one of the world’s premier institute in the environmental research on estuarine/coastal oceans and their watershed, which values the interdisciplinary study regarding the environmental science. I think it is important to treat the earth system as a whole, not split up mechanically the physical, geological, chemical processes. Also, the researchers of UMCES are outstanding in their fields and keep at the cutting edge of study.
What are your future plans? I hope I will continue my study and finally become an expert in my research area.
